Event: CPFT experts to explain the brain and mental health

Can we fix a broken brain? Why are we getting so fat? And why do teenagers really need to lie-in? These are just some of the questions that will be answered by CPFT experts at Cambridge BRAINFest 2017, a free public festival celebrating the most complex organ in the body.

Cambridge is one of the major centres in the UK, if not the world, for studying how the brain works, and why in many cases it goes wrong, leading to disease. Cambridge BRAINFest is our chance to showcase the brilliant work that is taking place across the city

The three day event, running from 23-25 June, will allow audiences to quiz more than 130 leading Cambridge neuroscientists on everything from dementia and dyslexia through to memory and mental health.

On 24 June Dr Chess Denman, CPFT medical director and expert in personality disorders and Dr Hisham Ziauddeen, consultant psychiatrist, will join experts from the University of Cambridge in a panel discussion about ‘Brains & Mental Health’.

Dr Denman said: “The Cambridge BRAINFest is a fantastic opportunity to discover more about how our minds work and the links between physical and mental health. With 1 in 4 of us experiencing mental health problems at some time in our lives, and the number of people who self-harm or have suicidal thoughts increasing, it is really important that we continue to undertake pioneering research to improve treatments and medications.

“Volunteers have been celebrated this week and so we would like to thank local people who give up to participate in research activities here at CPFT.”

The event will be an opportunity to find out about ongoing research that will help us better understand and treat mental health disorders and how we can bridge the existing gap between neuroscience research and current practice in the health service. The panel, chaired by Professor Sir Simon Wessely, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists , will look at issues including how the brain and body interact, the stigma surrounding mental health problems and the transition between child and adult psychiatry.

The panel discussion takes place from 7pm in the Babbage Lecture Theatre, New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge, CB2 3QZ.